Marin school gets bomb threat, campus evacuated

Venetia Valley School in Santa Venetia reopened at about 10:45 a.m. Tuesday after a search by police located no explosives following a bomb threat that was called in earlier Tuesday morning.

The San Rafael Police Department, California Highway Patrol, and the San Francisco Police Department explosive canine unit searched the school twice and nothing was found, officials said.

Students and staff were evacuated after the threat, which was left on a school answering machine, and reported at 7:45 a.m. They were moved to the National Guard Armory at 155 Madison Ave. in Santa Venetia.

Claudia Garcia of San Rafael had just brought her first-grader, Samantha, to school Tuesday morning and was setting up a table at the school to sell tickets to "Tropical Nights," a school fundraiser, when she heard a call on the intercom asking someone to report to the office.

"I thought it was a drill," Garcia said. The next thing she knew, "I saw teachers lining up with their kids, counting heads," in the field behind the school.

"We were told we had four minutes to leave, so I left," Garcia said.

Around 10 a.m., Garcia got an automated call from the school explaining that the children were safe at the armory and had food and water, and parents could pick up their children if they wished.

Advertisement

She returned to the school and waited in line with about 40 other parents who were vetted by police before being allowed to whisk their children away.

"They did a very good job of evacuating the children," Garcia said.

Jenine Quinones of San Rafael was in line with Garcia and agreed with her estimation of the situation. Quinones, who has two children at the school, said she saw helicopters circling as she waited.